Date of Award

8-2012

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Campus-Only Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology and Physical Education

Advisor

Stephen Butterfield

Second Committee Member

Robert Lehnhard

Third Committee Member

Craig Mason

Abstract

Several factors are associated with youth aerobic capacity, including age, sex, maturation and BMI. Aerobic capacity and its association with obesity remains a concern to physical educators. Aerobic capacity is important as it represents functional limits of the 02-delivery chain and is therefore an indicator of cardiovascular health. Obesity is associated with reduced cardiovascular performance and is a precursor of serious diseases. Given the importance of children's cardiovascular health, and in light of secular trends related to height (leveled off), and weight (accelerating) current data is needed on aerobic capacity in children and youth. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) was used to examine associations of selected predictor variables with cardiovascular fitness. The purpose of this study was to examine cardiovascular fitness in youth. The design was cross-sectional and correlational. Children ages 9-19, enrolled in 19 Maine public schools (N=1931) were tested on the PACER by state certified physical educators trained in fitness assessment. Procedures outlined in the FITNESSGRAM test manual were followed. BMI and maturation offset were calculated for each child. Maturation offset was determined by separate regression equations for boys and girls. Performance on the PACER and controls (Age, Sex, BMI, & Maturation) were analyzed by multiple regression. Controlling for age, sex, BMI, and maturation, each unit increase in BMI was associated with a 1.495 (lap) decline in PACER score (p

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